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<DIV>a MPWG message dated 2/11/05 writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>McGraw
said there are three options: Do nothing and watch ginseng likely
<BR>disappear from the landscape; reintroduce deer predators such as
<BR>mountain lions and wolves; or change hunting regulations that would lead
<BR>to a reduction in deer populations.<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>This is the same old predictable old-school forestry lip service to caring
about the situation. Bring in wolves to kill local toddlers and beloved
pets or issue more hunting licenses. This is thinking inside of a box
where the real problem glares at us obvious-by-omission. The fact of
the matter is, forest fragmentation is the underlying and overwhelming problem
demanding our collective concern here. Yes we have killed or driven
off the predators but we have also opened up (ripped and scarred) the landscape
to create ideal herbivore conditions. The hunters/sportsmen are
a strong and well organized political force. I do not mean to take an
anti-hunting stance at all. But here in Pennsylvania when the deer
populations begin to drop at all, not even getting close to levels that
would help, say, the ginseng, hunters begin to gnash there teeth
and wave their campaign contributions in the air demanding something be
done, if only for the sake of the tourism dollars hunting brings
into our Commonwealth... We've seen too that lymes disease is more
prevelant in fragmented places than in the contiguous forest, there is more
lymes disease in a suburban neighborhood of Philadelphia than there is in
the deepent hemlock groves of the Allegheny National Forest. The
lymes-carrying tick notoriously lives on the deer. So we'd better issue
more hunting licenses (and relax the safety zone regulations, let them shoot
into people's backyards and over the off ramps of Turnpike 76), or
introduce wolves and cougars into the gated communities of the Main
Line, or do nothing. </DIV>
<DIV>Why do we associate the word "reforestation" only with developing nations
and mine reclamation zones? What about serious attention to planting
ginseng? planting it in the gated communities if we have to in order to
help it survive? and what about planting trees? There's a radical
idea. </DIV>
<DIV>Best regards everyone, Jennifer Chesworth</DIV>
<DIV><A title=http://www.herbalistswithoutborders.org/
href="http://www.herbalistswithoutborders.org/">www.herbalistswithoutborders.org</A></DIV></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>